Donald Trump baby balloon could take to the skies again when President visits UK
Activists are plotting to relaunch the Donald Trump baby balloon when the President jets to the UK for his historic second official visit in September, Metro can reveal.
The blimp, a giant, six-metre-long inflatable depicting Trump as a baby in a nappy grasping a mobile phone, became a symbol of protests against the controversial leader on his first state visit as President in July 2018.
It was flown in the skies above Parliament as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets. During the parade, it was flanked by a group of campaigners in red flying suits who were dubbed 'Trump babysitters'.
The balloon later spawned copycat versions of London Mayor Sadiq Khan and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which were flown in 2018 and 2019, as well as counterfeit merchandise, including t-shirts and bobblehead figures.
Leo Murray, who came up with the idea of the blimp to mock the President, has now revealed he is considering re-launching the inflatable or commissioning another for the visit later this year.
Leo, from north London, told Metro: 'We will consider getting the blimp up again. It was very effective last time. The way it made fun of him worked. It certainly was eye-catching and gave everyone a smile. But the danger of Trump is worse than ever now.
'The original one is now in the Museum of London so we would have to speak to them. We crowdfunded the first one so maybe we could do that again and get a new one. It's too early to say but we will have plans.
'It's more vital than ever to protest. He should not be coming for a second visit the way Britain's sucking up to him is not what people here want to see, it's very poor.
'His first presidency was bad enough but in the end he didn't get to do much. This time round he is much more dangerous- we have to oppose this visit and make ourselves heard.'
To create the blimp, Leo worked with designer Matt Bonner. It was then built by Leicestershire-based company, Imagine Inflatables.
While the majority of people praised the inflatable, it faced some criticism, including from the President himself.
Trump said at the time the blimp made him feel unwanted, adding: 'I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London.
'I used to love London as a city. I haven't been there in a long time. But when they make you feel unwelcome, why would I stay there?'
Nigel Farage also described it at the time as 'the biggest insult to a sitting US President ever.'
In response to the criticism, the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the balloon was recognised as a legitimate form of demonstration, which is why it was allowed to fly.
It was later flown in Ireland during protests in 2019 but plans to launch it over Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland that year were halted after the authorities refused permission.
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The Museum of London has since bought the original blimp and has it on display in its protest collection.
It described the blimp as an 'extraordinary and imaginative idea' and a 'response from Londoners'.
The Museum's director, Sharon Ament, said the blimp was an example of the British love of satire. She said: 'We use humour a lot. And we poke fun at politicians. This is a big – literally – example of that.'
Leo added: 'Last time the blimp was very effective and could be again.
'The world is a much more dangerous place because of Trump winning the presidency again. We need to make our voices heard.'
In February, Trump was invited to visit the UK for a second unprecedented state visit by King Charles. More Trending
Buckingham Palace confirmed on Tuesday that Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, will be in the UK from 17 to 19 September and will be hosted at Windsor Castle. A full schedule for the visit is yet to be released.
The House of Commons breaks up the day before so he will not be making an address to Parliament as is the usual protocol for a state visit.
Trump said ahead of his visit: 'I think I want to have a good time and respect King Charles because he's a great gentleman.'
He added that the UK was a 'great place'.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Five key questions answered about the Trump administration's Epstein files chaos
MORE: Kevin Spacey begs for release of Epstein files and insists he 'has nothing to fear'
MORE: 'I shared a prison dorm with Ghislaine Maxwell – she isn't suicidal in the least'
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The simple way Democrats should talk about Trump and Epstein
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The Big Apple has a glittering 'elite' with status at the center of a broader ring that wields power. Trump has always tried to straddle those rings, painting himself as the renegade billionaire. The Epstein affair shatters that mythos. It casts him not as a brash, bull-in-a-china-shop outsider but as the ultimate insider, rubbing shoulders with the very aristocracy his campaign rhetoric promised to upend. Democrats must lead with Epstein. Then they need to connect it to the president's myriad failures. Why did Trump cut taxes for the richest Americans while cutting Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act? For the same reason he is protecting Epstein and his buddies. Why is Trump risking union jobs in auto manufacturing so he can have a trade spat with Mexico and Canada? For the same reason he is protecting Epstein and his buddies. Why is Donald Trump talking about firing the head of the Fed? For the same reason he is protecting Epstein and his buddies. 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The Epstein scandal has captured our attention not just because it's a lurid horror story, but because it confirms a truth people already believe: the rich view them as objects for exploitation. And if there's one thing Trump has successfully messaged to all Americans, it's that he's very, very rich. Epstein is the story. But he is also a stand-in for every closed maternity ward in a rural county, for every mom choosing between insulin and groceries and for every veteran battling the Department of Veterans Affairs while Silicon Valley billionaires buy senators. Democrats' message is simple enough, actually: 'Trump and the GOP protect the elite. They abandon you.' Think this messaging can be overdone? Look no further than Benghazi, a truly made-up scandal, which Republicans turned into a true political liability with Hillary Clinton's emails. That story stuck because of repetition and omnipresence, but also because it struck a chord with something Americans already believed: that the Clinton family viewed themselves as above accountability. Even Trump's own supporters are asking hard questions. Where are the files? Why is there a two-tiered system of justice? Why is Trump more interested in protecting his friends than releasing the truth? The Democratic response should be a noun, a verb and Jeffrey Epstein, and then the rot at the core of the American system. Deployed effectively, it can be as impactful and as memorable as Trump's cruel but devastating 2024 attack line: 'Kamala is for they / them, President Trump is for you.' Trump protects elites. That's why Trump is protecting Epstein's circle. But who's protecting you? Peter Rothpletz is a Guardian contributor
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
MIKEY SMITH: 11 unhinged Donald Trump moments as Epstein survivors accuse him of 'cover up'
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We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. 11. Trump's ballroom looks awfully familiar. Also, just awful The design proposals for the other big construction project Trump wants to undertake on the White House look awfully familiar. The huge ballroom he wants to tack on to the East Wing is designed to look remarkably similar to the main ballroom at Mar A Lago, Trump's club in South Beach, Florida. It's almost as if he's never planning to leave.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The simple way Democrats should talk about Trump and Epstein
Democrats must not let Jeffrey Epstein die. They must highlight how this saga exposes the president for who he has always been. In the decade Teflon Don has spent on the national stage, no scandal has stuck to and haunted him quite so viscerally as the Epstein affair. He's never before appeared so flustered, forced to answer question after question about the women and girls whose lives were destroyed by his former 'best friend'. The world may never know what is inside the so-called 'Epstein files.' What is clear is that the contents are damaging enough for the president and his human flak jackets to call the whole affair a 'hoax', recess Congress to prevent a vote on releasing the materials and send the deputy attorney general to visit Tallahassee, Florida, to speak to the convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, who was subsequently moved to a 'cushy', celebrity-riddled minimum security prison in Bryan, Texas. As the conservative pundit Bill Kristol noted over the weekend: '[Richard Nixon] said of Watergate, 'I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish.' Trump may have given us a sword. We should use it.' Kristol is right, to a point. Liberals, progressives and never-Trump Republicans must not let voters forget Trump's festering, open wound without neglecting the kitchen table, cost-of-living matters that hurt them last fall. In 2007, a far sharper and far more spry Joe Biden delivered a quip so clever and cutting that it ended another man's entire political career. Rudy Giuliani was never able to recover after Biden observed how it seemed 'there's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11'. The line was funny because it was true; it was lethal because it exposed the emptiness behind the former New York City mayor's tragedy-fueled candidacy. This is the challenge for Democrats: how do they maintain a spotlight on a scandal that reveals Trump for who he is in a way that finally resonates with his base without appearing to exploit a tragedy , à la Giuliani? They must ground the abstract conspiracy in everyday terms relatable to the average American. It goes like this: Trump protects elites. Say it in every stump speech, vent about it in vertical videos and keep it alive as a dominant narrative in the zeitgeist. Do not back away. The modern media environment rewards repetition and omnipresence, so Hakeem Jeffries should promise an Epstein select committee, Chuck Schumer should make Republicans release the Epstein files in return for votes to fund the government, and every leftwing activist in the country should be burying Pam Bondi's justice department in a blizzard of Freedom of Information Act requests. In doing so, recognize that the response to the scandal is an encapsulation of a deeper truth that voters already feel. The president and the GOP protect the elite at the expense of ordinary Americans. Savvier Democrats get this. Some of the party's best communicators have already been grasping for a message along these lines, as seen in the focus on Elon Musk's 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders's nationwide Fighting Oligarchy tour. But while those efforts have paid some political dividends, they have not come close to capturing the public imagination to the degree the Epstein files have. For at least some portion of the Maga movement, the past three weeks have finally managed to expose Trump for the hobnobbing, name-dropping, pompous ass that he's always been. Why is this one particular story so effective – especially as most voters have known Trump to be a plutocratic wannabe for decades? Maggie Haberman's hypothesis is noteworthy: New York high society operates in two concentric circles. The Big Apple has a glittering 'elite' with status at the center of a broader ring that wields power. Trump has always tried to straddle those rings, painting himself as the renegade billionaire. The Epstein affair shatters that mythos. It casts him not as a brash, bull-in-a-china-shop outsider but as the ultimate insider, rubbing shoulders with the very aristocracy his campaign rhetoric promised to upend. Democrats must lead with Epstein. Then they need to connect it to the president's myriad failures. Why did Trump cut taxes for the richest Americans while cutting Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act? For the same reason he is protecting Epstein and his buddies. Why is Trump risking union jobs in auto manufacturing so he can have a trade spat with Mexico and Canada? For the same reason he is protecting Epstein and his buddies. Why is Donald Trump talking about firing the head of the Fed? For the same reason he is protecting Epstein and his buddies. Mallory McMorrow of Michigan, a Democratic Senate candidate, is already reading from this script. In recent weeks, she has demonstrated mastery in pairing Epstein with broader anti‑elite rhetoric. In one vertical video, she emphatically declared: This is exactly why there's eroding trust in our institutions, because until we confront the rot that exists in our institutions, until we hold everyone, everyone accountable under the same set of rules and laws, we will keep living in a country where there are two systems of justice, one for the rich and powerful, and one for everybody else. We deserve better. Release the files now. Trump's friendship with Epstein is a proof point for elite favoritism and all of us who oppose the orange god king must use it to condemn inequality and unaccountable power within the GOP ecosystem. The Epstein scandal has captured our attention not just because it's a lurid horror story, but because it confirms a truth people already believe: the rich view them as objects for exploitation. And if there's one thing Trump has successfully messaged to all Americans, it's that he's very, very rich. Epstein is the story. But he is also a stand-in for every closed maternity ward in a rural county, for every mom choosing between insulin and groceries and for every veteran battling the Department of Veterans Affairs while Silicon Valley billionaires buy senators. Democrats' message is simple enough, actually: 'Trump and the GOP protect the elite. They abandon you.' Think this messaging can be overdone? Look no further than Benghazi, a truly made-up scandal, which Republicans turned into a true political liability with Hillary Clinton's emails. That story stuck because of repetition and omnipresence, but also because it struck a chord with something Americans already believed: that the Clinton family viewed themselves as above accountability. Even Trump's own supporters are asking hard questions. Where are the files? Why is there a two-tiered system of justice? Why is Trump more interested in protecting his friends than releasing the truth? The Democratic response should be a noun, a verb and Jeffrey Epstein, and then the rot at the core of the American system. Deployed effectively, it can be as impactful and as memorable as Trump's cruel but devastating 2024 attack line: 'Kamala is for they / them, President Trump is for you.' Trump protects elites. That's why Trump is protecting Epstein's circle. But who's protecting you? Peter Rothpletz is a Guardian contributor
